


Similarities

by Flusion



Category: Super Smash Brothers, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29159547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flusion/pseuds/Flusion
Summary: This Link was nothing like her Link. Her Link was loud and obnoxious. He was as immature as he was reliable. Her link had the arms of a blacksmith and a sootstained face to match. He had ash in his hair and heavy calluses on his hands.This Zelda was everything like his. The first thing he noticed was how she walked. He could recognize the sound of Zelda's footsteps anywhere. When he first heard her approach- his elation had been sudden and extreme- he'd turned around and seen the princess of Hyrule. Not his princess
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Time & Wild (Linked Universe)
Kudos: 30





	Similarities

This Link was nothing like her Link.

Sure they were both short, but that’s as far as the similarities sat. 

Her link was loud and obnoxious, he was as immature as he was reliable. He was goofy and friendly. Her Link had the arms of a blacksmith, and the soot stained face to match. He had ash in his hair and heavy calluses. As friendly and goofy as he was, and as much as he would deny it, his gruff master had rubbed off on him. At least a little bit.

This Link was not the same. Not even close. He was soft-spoken and always respectful. He had a belly. He practiced, ran drills, and sparred enough that he was muscular, but she once saw him with his shirt off. He probably had abs under that squish.

He had calluses too, but she also saw that rather than signs of the smith he bore the scars of a harsh life of combat. Sometimes her Link would be struck with a coughing fit from his smoke stained lungs. This link would wheeze and cough- enough to worry her, but he would wave her off.

“Old battle wound,” He had said.

She knew where he got the belly from too, for he was positively gluttonous. He ate more than anyone else at every meal. Sure her Link ate heartily as he should, for he worked hard, but this link brought it to such excess she couldn’t help but wonder where he put it all. Straight to his gut, no doubt.

His glutt was not mindless however. He had a deep appreciation for food, and it was one of the few topics anyone could get him to say more than a few words on. To be precise, she had heard him go long on exactly two topics: food-good food, and his Zelda.

As such she knew quite a bit about her long future descendent. His Zelda could talk for hours about anything, and especially her hobbies. She was a scientist by nature, and took frequent trips to the wild lands in search of something new and undiscovered.

He would sigh and get all droopy when he talked about her. His eyes would go far off, and she could tell that Link missed her.

  
  


When they were both pulled into the battle for the worlds of light and dark, link took it upon himself to protect her. She asked him then why he was hovering over her like one of her handmaidens.

“You are the princess of Hyrule. It is my duty to protect my charge,” he said, almost a whisper.

“That’s not a why,” She retorted, “I am not your princess.”

Link gave her a blank look then. The silence stretched on for longer than a moment before he spoke again.

“My own princess is fiercely independent, and stubborn to a fault. If she were to get stuck in mud, rather than ask for help, she would rather struggle on her own. Even if it took her hours to get herself free. I am unable to say no to her, at least on matters that do not pose a threat to her well-being.”

“Perhaps you should exercise a similar thought process when in dealings with me. I do not need a baby-sitter. In fact, you’ve seen me fight. You know what I’m capable of,” Zelda huffed.

She had learned early on that this Link needed a firm hand. Structure and rules suited him just fine, and he was liable to listen to authority. He handled everything with the same serious attentiveness.

No matter what she said to him on the matter, he considered watching over her part of his duty to the royal family. Even though they were on the same side at the moment, Ganondorf would dare not to get close to her, for Link would likely smite him then and there.

Pity the fool who would interrupt Link in his meditative activities. He would always stop when called, but his displeasure- rare as it was- was shown with a frown. Sometimes for hours he would grow pensive, and sit cross-legged with the sword in his lap. He would close his eyes, but she knew he wasn’t sleeping. She’d never seen him sleep. He had to sleep, but perhaps was just late to bed and early to rise.

The first time he had delivered his now famous withering stares had been during one of his pensive meditations. One of the younger links, he was an engineer, approached. The boy reminded her a great deal of her link. 

The boy had startled Link so suddenly that the older Hero and stood up from his cross-legged position almost instantaneously. His sword was out in a flash, and bearing down on the poor lad, only to stop suddenly just before rending him in two.

The quicker of their group had moved to try and stop it from happening, but the Hero of The Wild was far too legendary for any but perhaps Byleth or Bayonetta to interfere in time. Why they didn’t was beyond her, and indeed when she looked Byleth had a grip on Bayonetta to stop the witch.

It mattered not, for no harm came, except for the fierce look upon Link’s face which burned all who saw.

“What did you need?” he asked his other self. His face quickly went back to neutral, and his voice betrayed no emotion.

The poor child was far too stricken to respond.

  
  


Her Link had never reached for a weapon when startled, this she was certain. He’d certainly never swung on an innocent before either. That incident only reinforced her theory. 

This Link was nothing like hers.

+++++++++++

This Zelda was everything like his.

Sure, she was much more calm and stately. She wasn’t prone to outbursts, or fits of indignant anger.

All the same he couldn’t help but compare the two’s similarities.

The first thing he noted was how she walked. He could recognize the sound of Zelda’s footsteps anywhere. When he first heard her approach him- his elation had been sudden and extreme- he’d turned around and seen the princess of Hyrule. Not his princess.

She looked-while not the same- very similar to his princess. The full blond hair. The soft cheeks. Not the same eye color, but still the very same eyes.

She was intelligent. Not a scientist like his Zelda, but intelligent all the same. She put her brain to other things, and was quite witty in conversation. She could probably talk circles around anybody. His Zelda could talk someone in circles, but those circles were quite different. Their eyes might spin and their ears would ring.

While speaking, his Zelda could render someone speechless. She had a habit of taking over a conversation, and rarely could anyone get a word in edgewise. She would throw logic and facts at her accusers, forcing them to see things from her perspective.

This Zelda was much the same when speaking. She had an inspiring way with words when she wanted to, but her strength didn’t come from so many facts and bits of logic, and came more from an emotional appeal. People couldn’t help but to agree with her when she was speaking. 

His respect for her only grew over time. At first he had been unsure. He was sworn to the royal family, and dedicated his life to their defense, but what did that mean for someone such as her? He hadn’t sworn himself to her.

It didn’t take him long to smooth out his own doubt and confusion though. He quickly assured himself,  _ this is Zelda. She’s a member of the Hyrulian royal family. _

After the decision he took to attending to her like he had done for his own zelda in the beginning. He could feel his own feelings of fondness grow at her apprehension to his presence. To him it felt like the similarities were never ending.

He once caught her at tea with Princess Peach and Rosalina. She was being decidedly unladylike. She let out a snort at a joke that could probably put his own Zelda to shame in her private moments.

She was also all-too-curious about the future of her kingdom. From her words to him, it seemed as if they lived tens of thousands of years apart. She would ask after a location, a temple of worship or an old summer palace. He knew very few of the locations by name.

She asked about Turtle Rock. To her, Turtle Rock was a temple to worship Din. To him, Turtle rock was the name of a plateau in the Gerudo Highlands. There was a tower there trapped in the mire.

There was always some correlation to her talkings. He noticed that many of the places that she would ask about, if he gave it some thought, did exist in some form in his Hyrule. She spoke of a temple in the middle of lake Hylia. It was on a little island. 

Link had found a Sheikah shrine there.

He found her easy to talk to, and they spent man hours musing over such topics. This Zelda felt much like his own. After he got to know her, she didn’t feel like yet another judge of his character and accomplishments. He relished that he felt free to speak with her, at least in a semi-private setting. 

He didn’t talk much to the others. One of the other links- the young one with the ocarina- was one of the few he spoke to.

The child was an old soul trapped in the body of a preadolescent. Neither of them were prone to much speech, but he found a sense of camaraderie with the other version of the hero. They spoke often of their Zeldas. Him with a reverent fondness while the fairy boy was bitter and sad, though he loved his own no less strongly.

That was when he decided that there was a striking set of similarities between their princesses. None of them would back down from their duty, and instead would tackle their lives head on. 

Talking to the younger-older version of himself helped to clarify and confirm for him that fact.

This Zelda was everything like his Zelda

**Author's Note:**

> This was a sudden hit of inspiration. So sudden that I immediately sat down and vomited words on a document. A few hours later I'm here and posting. I hope you enjoyed reading.


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